As is well known, microscopes are optical instruments used to view, examine and study very small objects. There are many different types of microscopes with different types being best suited for particular applications. Types of microscopes include, but are not limited to: compound microscopes, stereomicroscopes, confocal microscopes, inverted microscopes, and laser microscopes, etc. While advancements in microscope optics and microscopy methods have burgeoned in recent years, means for safely and efficiently transporting microscopes have not.
Indeed, microscopes are often required to be transported, for example, from the point of manufacture to the point of sale and/or to the point of use. Typically, when microscopes are transported from point of sale to point of use, they are transported within shipping containers or microscope cases that are specifically designed for such use. Such containers and cases typically comprise shock absorbing materials for preventing the microscope from becoming damaged. Such methods of transporting are perhaps, the safest. Alternatively, where a microscope is transported, for example, from one laboratory to another within a building, the microscope may be placed on a wheeled cart or the like for safe transport. Transporting a microscope via a cart while somewhat safe, is simply not as safe as transporting a microscope within a container specifically designed therefore. However, where a microscope is transported, for example, from one room to another or from one location to another within a same room, the microscope is usually transported by hand. Because hand transportation of microscopes is perhaps, the most dangerous method for transporting a microscope, as many school children may attest, when transporting a microscope by hand, the prudent individual grasps an arm portion of the microscope with a first hand and uses their remaining free hand to support the microscope from below its base.
While such methods are usually sufficient for transporting a microscope by hand, the incorporation of carrying means into a microscope stand offers additional assurance that the microscope will not be damaged during hand transport. While means, for example handles, for transporting microscope are known, such means may statically protrude from the microscope stand, which can be problematic when space is limited, swing in and out from the body of the microscope stand as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,270, or they may extend and retract from the body of the microscope stand, etc. While handles that swing in and out or extend and retract have advantages over those that statically protrude, such handles often require complex mechanical means in order to perform their operations. The addition of mechanical devices for handles can increase the manufacturing cost of a microscope.
What is needed then is a means for securing and transporting a microscope that does not statically protrude from the microscope stand and does not require complex mechanical means.